There is the link with some basics tripadvisor.com/…30989068

Maybe some material you can take before arrival tripadvisor.com/Travel-g294473-c153420/Ukrai…

Hi ofito! Welcome to Ukraine forum :)

There’s nothing scary in travelling around Ukraine – I’ve been to many dodgier places ;) However, do stay street smart while getting around here and do take the usual safety cautions in an unknown environment.

I’m not quite sure I got your plans all right from the way you wrote it – are you actually staying in Izmail or in Odessa? Your question #1 implies it’s Odessa but then I don’t see why you are doubting you can have enough time for the city then?

In any case, within a week you have budgeted for this trip you surely can include Izmail, Vilkovo and Odessa no problem. Vilkovo is normally done on a day trip, even if you add a boat sail around the Danube natural reserve area to it. Odessa does require at least couple of days to get a feel to it.

Izmail is in some 230-240km from Odessa (one-way, by automobile road). So in principle it’s not a problem to get there on a day trip from Odessa, although it’s going to be a long day. It takes about 4hrs by bus (and there are some leaving Odessa very early in the morning) and about 2-2.5hrs by car.

And Vilkovo is about half-way from Izmail to Odessa. So if I were to plan this trip, to avoid extra time on road, I’d stay in Izmail overnight (do not expect much comfort there, but for one night only even a camp or recreation base can be a good idea), visited Vilkovo from there then proceeded to Odessa.

When I’ve been to Vilkovo several years ago, we just drove to the area then found some locals on spot to get us around in their boats (obviously not an option to you). Some colleagues of mine used a local company in Vilkovo for a pre-arranged tour. I can PM you the details of that company, if you wish. I’m not sure though if they have any English speaking guides; you’ll have to ask them.

There are lost of tour companies in Odessa not only offering tours around the city to foreigners, but also arranging day trips to Vilkovo, which is a very popular side trip from Odessa. Search the web, I’m sure you‘ll find many.

Also, try to contact those TA members who’ve been to Odessa and ask if they used a tour company or a guide. Send a PM to those who left their trip reports here tripadvisor.com/…28348864 (look for Odessa reports).

A convinced solo (and independent) traveller myself, I do encourage you to learn basic Cyrillics (Russian will do for this leg of your trip) before heading here; it’ll help you to get around a lot!

As Anna said, do not count much on information kiosks here to get a conversation guide – better be ready in advance. In addition to the link Anna posted above, you might probably also find the following helpful:

Some place names you can come across in the city in #6 here tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g295368-i5302-k417…

Names of some local food and bevarages in #3 and 5 here tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g294474-i3663-k318…

Digits and numbers tripadvisor.com/Travel-g294473-c153417/Ukrai…

LP phrasebooks can also get handy, easy to purchase on-line …lonelyplanet.com/russia/russian-phrasebook-5 and …lonelyplanet.com/ukraine/ukrainian-phrasebo…

Enjoy your trip planning! :)

Thank you very nuch for the information.

Thank you very much for your answer.

Ofito

Hallo Cora:

Thanks for your complete answer.

Two questions :

1) What is «PM»? How can I give to you my E-mail adress so you can send me the information about a guided tour in Vylkovo?

2) I cannot order the Lonely P, Conversation Guide because I am actually travelling in Turkey. Is it ¸possible to get it in Odessa? Is there a good bookstore for travellers?

Best regards,

Ofito

Oh, I'm sorry, Ofito! Should have considered that you are relatively knew to TA before using the acronyms common here.

PM is a private message (hence to PM means to send a private message). This is a private correspondence tool offered by TA to its members to discuss the questions off the forums.

To send someone on TA a private message (PM), go to this member's profile by clicking on this member’s name/nick or avatar (picture above the member's name; say my today's avatar is a negative image of Chornobyl plant).

By doing so, you will be brought to this members profile. Look at the panel to the left and you will see several options, including Send Message option written in blue ink by the green envelop icon.

Click on it, and you will see a pop-up window of the private message. Type your message in it and click on Send when you are done. It is also recommended to type your message in a text processor like Word or Pages first - PM tool glitches sometimes, so the whole text happens to disappear.

I’m sending you a PM right away, you can just respond to mine and include your e-mail details there. Or better I’ll just send you the info by private message. Please, do not post your e-mail on the open forum; by doing so you are making yourself sensitive to getting lots of spam, at the very least.

Oh, I see about getting the conversation guide now. Not sure about Odessa, but I have not yet found LPs phrasebooks/guidebooks even in Kyiv stores. However, some locally printed conversation guides must be available in the bookstores in the city (not in the airport).

Hope Odessa residents will help us to locate where those bookstores can be found, because these shops don’t last in Ukraine, unfortunately. So I’ll be hesitant to recommend the stores I remember from my earlier trips.

Hi Ofito,

I sent you two private messages by now, including the one with contact details of the company we talked about.

Unfortunately haven't heard from you so far. Did you receive them all right?

Thanks.

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